New arrivals

A little earlier than expected we've got new arrivals to enjoy our Kaitoke Grand Design. Two Basset Hounds, named Fortnum and Mason. They are 10 weeks old bundles of joy. They've settled in less than24 hours after arriving and keeping a watchful eye as the landscapers, roofers and builders cruise past "their" veranda.

Mason
(8.6kg and very long ears)

Fortnum (10kg and very big paws)

It's mine, no it's mine......!

Dog tired puppies at the end of an extraordinary first day away from mum, brothers and sister

It's all in the preparation

I know from bitter experience of what can happen with a clay garden if you don't prepare well. We're not making that mistake again here so Paul Cameron Landscapers are hard a work spreading our carefully kept topsoil into the new beds. That is of course after the gypsom on the base where the clay is too.

The scary thing about this project (other than the fact we're digging close to rainwater collection drains and the house foundations) is the sheer size of the beds! I'll be mulching that pretty well I can tell you, don't fancy all the weeding that will be involved.

Landscaping under way

Landscapers start on site this week to get the basics in place and allow us to welcome visitors with something other than clay banks and metal drive!

For any avoidance of doubt, Jamie, our landscaper is labelling all the key bits to make sure that his vision for the garden becomes a reality!

Barn completion - well almost

After a frustrating few days waiting for concrete the barn is up and closed in. Now we're just waiting for Greg and the crew to stretch the power cables far enough so that the fit out inside can be completed and hey presto the doors to open. It's also important for the water pump system which we are running by extension cable from the house at the moment. It will be a relief to get it all finished so we can rest easy that the extension lead won't get unplugged, drenched or otherwise damaged and cut off the water supply!

At home

The Moss Brothers Team pulled out all the stops to get us ship shape for move on 2 November. 31 weeks into this project and it's hard to believe that that it's no longer a building site but our home. There's heaps still to do but the fun can really now start.

Here's the reveal............

The fledgling garden!

Room for guests - 30 days to tidy this up in readiness for our first UK visitors

Home office with Decade Furniture

The sunniest room in the house with a cool calm look

Kitchen still incomplete but hopefully finalised in the next week or so.

Family room for those laid back moments

The sitting room for those more formal moments - like tea with the in-laws!

My pride and joy wallpaper - aka Denver, the painter's nightmare!

Some rooms are more complete than other - ensuite reading room

Waiting for the floor - hurry up Versatile!

Week 30: periously close

Every day the basics get more finished and the finishing touches are installed. We are hours away from handover and the build team are working flat out to get us ready for handover and move in. It's hard to believe we've gone from dirt to the detailed furnishings. Now only the packing to worry about!

New home for shoes

Entertainment HQ (almost complete)

Electrician hard at work - there were plenty of others making it a real team effort.

Our pedestal and basin arrived in the nick of time

The tiling too!

And the barn is not far behind

Week 29: landscaping

It takes real vision to see through the piles of mud and imagine a garden. Given I am still failing on that front it's good to know that we have Jamie our landscape designer on hand to keep the vision alive. With at last some fine weather we've been able to get the man and digger back on site to move the top soil, create the base for the future lawn and sculpt the banks for future trees and planting.

All I can say is its amazing to see how big machinery can do such a fine job. Chris and Ben the ground works team have performed another fine job after they created our build platform in the first place!

Week 29: Barnbuilding

The weather has finally been kind to the build team from Versatile. They have managed to go from muddy footings to frame in 4 days and not wasting a moment. After initial post construction the cementing was done the same day so the build team could be back the next day to complete the skeleton of the barn. If you use your imagination you can see a shiny new red heritage barn - hopefully we'll see the real thing next week.

Week 29: kitchen gallery

After all the trials and tribulations of floods, dock strikes and Government incompetance, the kitchen has finally arrived.

The team from Kitchen Gallery pulled out all the stops over a holiday weekend to prepare for the final install. Not to mention being chased up from Christchurch by gale force winds and an interesting crossing over the Cook Straight. An effort which is certainly paid off.

Although there is still the granite worktop, taps, extractor unit and miscellaneous snagging to be done I'm delighted with my shaker style kitchen. It's exactly what I wanted.